Welcome back! In this lesson I wanna throw out some guitar tips and tricks for beginners.
I think beginners struggle the most with pick patterns. I mean I totally get it, I was there when I
was just starting out..”there are so many notes and chords! Should I strum downwards? Should
alternate directions? what should I do?”. It could be really frustrating and confusing.
These days, I don’t really think about pick patterns anymore, it just comes out naturally to me;
but it was not always like that. I’ve noticed that the pick patterns that I tend to choose are always
a product of subdivision. The basic idea is to grab the shortest note of the beat and move your
wrist at that speed, even if you are not playing any other note; let me explain this a little bit
better. Let’s say you have the following notes:
I would pick down the “0” and then pick up the “2”. How did I come up with it? Well here’s the
basic idea:
It is very clear that if you pick down the first ( the “0”), pick up the next note and continue that
pattern, you will eventually play the 2 upwards. But now here’s the thing, I wouldn’t actually play
the four notes I just showed, but I would definitely move my wrist as if I was playing them. Why?
Because this way your “wrist is moving all the time”; got it? it is natural for your wrist to be
moving all the time as opposed to having random sudden changes of direction; it just gets
confusing and slows you down and makes you feel like a robot.
So this is very simple: keep your wrist moving all the time, even you are not playing any of the
notes. Eventually, you will internalize it and pick patterns will be like breathing; you will just know
how to do it.
I hope you enjoy this lesson! And please remember to check out our videos at:
